1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge slot door mechanism of a magnetic recording/playback apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A streamer apparatus corresponding to a type of magnetic recording/playback apparatus that uses a tape cartridge and includes a rotating drum and a tape loading mechanism like the VTR is being commercialized for use as an external storage device of a computer.
The streamer apparatus has a tape cartridge slot arranged at its front panel for enabling insertion of a tape cartridge, and a door is arranged at the tape cartridge slot for preventing dust and other particles from entering through the tape cartridge slot. The door is configured to be pushed toward the inner side of the streamer apparatus by the tape cartridge being inserted.
Although the current streamer apparatus has a relatively large storage capacity of 72 GB at compression mode, for example, there is an ever growing demand for increased storage capacity, and in turn, manufacturers are developing techniques for increasing the storage capacity of the streamer apparatus. One way of increasing the storage capacity involves enabling the use of a new tape cartridge that accommodates a magnetic tape with a greater tape width compared to the tape width of the magnetic tape of the current tape cartridge.
It is noted that since the streamer apparatus is installed in a machine, its dimension in the depth direction is preferably arranged to be relatively short.
The tape cartridge slot door mechanism of a conventional streamer apparatus typically comprises a single door.
Upon adapting the streamer apparatus to enable use of the new tape cartridge, since the height of the new tape cartridge is greater than the height of the current tape cartridge, the dimension of the tape cartridge slot in the height direction has to be increased. That is, the width of the door of the tape cartridge slot has to be increased, and in turn, more space is needed at the inner side of the front panel of the streamer apparatus for enabling the door to adequately open and close. As a result, the dimension of the streamer apparatus in the depth direction has to be increased.
In this respect, a door mechanism has been developed in which the door is divided into an upper door and a lower door that are configured to rotate in opposite directions to be pushed and opened by a tape cartridge inserted through the tape cartridge slot. In this door mechanism, the respective width dimensions of the upper door and the lower door may be reduced compared to that of a single door and the space at the inner side of the front panel for opening and closing the door may be reduced. As a result, the depth dimension of the streamer apparatus may not have to be increased.
However, in the conventional door mechanism including an upper door and a lower door, extending edges of the upper and lower doors are arranged to oppose each other when the door mechanism is closed. In this case, a gap is created between the lower edge of the upper door and the upper edge of the lower door so that the door mechanism may not effectively prevent dust and other particles from entering through the tape cartridge slot.